Sometimes you have to take the time and applaud folks for the good that they do. Mark J. Dawson is an indie author who’s very well-known amidst the self-published thriller writing circles for his action-packed books focusing on John Milton. His series success and acclaim have been amply covered in this famous, viral Forbes article (Amazon Pays $450,000 A Year To This Self-Published Writer) as well as this one over at the Telegraph (Meet Mark Dawson, the literary sensation you've never heard of).

With bestsellers titles across all of his three series, he’s become an indie success on par with Hugh Howey, Amanda Hocking, Michael J Sullivan, and many others but several in the SFF field have barely heard of him. The reason why I’m writing this is to showcase the special effort Mark is undertaking to help provide much-needed cancer treatment to a mother facing a deadly condition.

I’ll let you read it in Mark’s own words as he describes the genesis of his project “Fight For Phoenix”:

"Emma Johns is the wife of my son's godfather and has been battling with breast cancer for several years. In the middle of her gruelling treatment she found out that she was pregnant (the chemotherapy was supposed to make her infertile but, to her surprise, it didn’t)."

"And then, in December, she gave birth to her own little miracle: baby Phoenix. Emma's condition is worsening but there is hope: a trial immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab has shown amazing results for women with incurable triple negative breast cancer (like her). But, due to her pregnancy, Emma missed out on being eligible for the only trial available for this drug. Her best option now is to pay for it privately for the eye-watering sum of £40,000. She has been fundraising to find the £40,000 that she needs for a year's treatment (at least)."

"I want to help. I paused work on my current project (THE ALAMO) and revisited a favourite character. Not many people know this, but Beatrix Rose was inspired by Emma's courage in the face of her cancer, and it seemed right that I wrote a new short story featuring her."

"But not just her. I'm bringing someone else to the party."

"PHOENIX is a short novella that is a good starting point if you have never read any of my books. It's set just before GHOSTS (John Milton book #4 wherein Beatrix made her first appearance) and the Beatrix Rose trilogy (IN COLD BLOOD, BLOOD MOON RISING, & BLOOD AND ROSES). You don't need to have read any of those books to enjoy this novella and there are no spoilers. John Milton and a few other familiar faces will also be appearing in this 16,000 word novella."

"The finished product is available for you to buy today. Every last cent and penny that I receive for this novella will be donated to this amazing mother's campaign."

"You can buy a copy of PHOENIX, and help make Emma's life a little easier from these links":

There’s also the official website for the FIGHT FOR PHOENIX campaign where you can find details about Emma’s personal story as well see pictures of baby Phoenix. There’s also a Go Fund Me page for helping Emma Johns wherein you can contribute the amount you wish. Keep in mind that cancer treatment is an uphill battle and one can never predict what extra ailments will appear or what other treatments might be needed. So the money you donate will always be helpful to Emma and her family.

Mark Dawson is doing a remarkable thing by donating all of the money he receives from this novella for Emma's treatment. I’ve bought my copy of PHOENIX and I hope many of our readers will consider doing the same. So please help out either by buying a copy from any of the links given above or you can directly donate to Emma Johns via her GoFundMe campaign page.